Ramya Krishnan (born 15 September 1970),
Early life
Ramya was born on 15 September 1970 in
Madras (present-day Chennai),
Tamil Nadu to a
Telugu people father.
She is the niece of
Tamil cinema actor and former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
Cho Ramaswamy.
Film career
Debut and early struggles (1984–1988)
She started her acting career with the Malayalam film
Neram Pularumbol. Although this was the first movie where she acted, it had a delayed release in 1986. Her first release was
Vellai Manasu in 1985, a Tamil movie opposite Y. G. Mahendra. Her first Telugu film was
Bhalae Mithrulu (1986). Then she went on to play supporting roles in
Tamil language films which include
Padikkadavan (1985) starring
Rajinikanth where she was given a uncredited role and
Per Sollum Pillai (1987) starring
Kamal Haasan. In Telugu, she starred with Rajendra Prasad in
Madana Gopaludu (1987),
Bhama Kalapam (1988),
Asthulu Anthasthulu (1988) and
Bava Marudula Saval (1988). She worked in Malayalam films such as
Orkkappurathu,
Aryan and
Anuragi with
Mohanlal. She enjoyed success in Kannada movies as well. One of her earlier roles as heroine was in
Krishna Rukmini opposite superstar Vishnuvardhan. She played a small role in the Hindi film
Dayavan that starred veteran actor
Vinod Khanna.
Breakthrough in Telugu and Hindi (1989–1998)
After a series of failures in both Tamil and
Telugu language, she achieved fame through K. Viswanath's
Sutradharulu, released in 1989. Her breakthrough came from K. Raghavendra Rao directorial movies where she emerged as a commercial romantic diva, due to successful movies such as
Alludugaru (1990),
Allari Mogudu (1992),
Major Chandrakanth (1993) along with
Mohan Babu and
Allari Priyudu (1993) along with Rajasekhar. She played the role of a devoted wife of
Sri Annamacharya, which was played by
Nagarjuna in the film
Annamayya (1997). In 1998, she played a leading role in
Kante Koothurne Kanu. She received a Nandi Award for Best Actress from the Government of Andhra Pradesh for her performance in the film. Her biggest Kannada hits include
Gadibidi Ganda (1993) and
Mangalyam Tantunanena (1998) with Ravichandran.
Ramya made her debut as a heroine in Hindi Cinema films with Yash Chopra's Parampara (1993). She acted in a few more Hindi films including Subhash Ghai's Khalnayak (1993), Mahesh Bhatt's Chaahat (1996), David Dhawan's Banarasi Babu (1997), and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998) along with Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda and Shapath with Mithun Chakraborty.
Comeback to Tamil cinema and Debut in TV serials (1999–2014)
After a four-year break from Tamil cinema, in 1999, Ramya played the female antagonist, Neelambari in
Padayappa opposite
Rajinikanth. The critic from
Rediff stated "Ramya does a fantastic job. She is vicious to her dying breath, when she declares she will revenge herself in her next life. She does a fabulous tandav of rage when her father commits suicide".
She went onto receive several awards including Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Tamil and Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize. She then starred in commercially successful films like
Budget Padmanabhan and
Panchatanthiram. The critic from Screen called her performance in
Panchatanthiram "one of the finest performances ever".
Ramya has also acted in many devotional films including
Rajakali Amman (2000),
Nageswari (2001),
Sri Raja Rajeshwari (2001) and
Annai Kaligambal (2003).
Her notable film in Malayalam was Ore Kadal (2007) with Mammootty, which received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam. She had acted as the mother-in-law of N. T. Rama Rao Jr. in the movie Naa Alludu (2005) marked for her role and later in the film Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam (2009). She also appeared in a guest role in item songs in Tollywood and Kollywood.
She turned to acting in TV serials before hosting a game show called Thanga Vettai, on Sun TV, and judging a dance show, Jodi Number One, on Star Vijay. Ramya is stepping in television serials for the first time. She was seen in Kalasam in two roles. One of them is Neelambari, a character she played in the Rajinikanth starrer Padayappa. In 2009, she appeared in Suresh Krissna's Arumugam and Rama Narayanan's Kutti Pisasu.
She continued her stay under the Sun TV banner to act in Thangam, Vamsam and Rajakumari. Later, she acted in supporting roles in Telugu as Ranga The Donga (2010), Yamudiki Mogudu (2012) and in Kannada as Sweety Nanna Jodi (2013) and Maanikya (2014).
2015–present
In 2015, Ramya acted in S.S. Rajamouli's film
and its sequel , where she played Rajamata Sivagami Devi. Her performance met with the critical acclaim and the films became the highest grossing Indian films. Sangeetha Devi Dundoo praised Ramya's performance and stated "Ramya Krishnan once again aces with her part".
She received the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress - Telugu for both films. In 2019, she played a porn actress in
Super Deluxe directed by Thiagarajan Kumararaja. Srivatsan S from
The Hindu stated her role as "boldest role yet".
She made her debut in the digital platform with Queen in 2019.
In 2025, she played an important role in the Hindi film Jaat, which stars Sunny Deol and was directed by Gopichand Malineni and produced by Mythri Movie Makers and Zee Studios.
Personal life
She married
Telugu film director
Krishna Vamsi on 12 June 2003. The couple have a son.
Filmography
Awards
|
|
| 1998 | Nandi Awards | Special Jury Award | Kante Koothurne Kanu | | |
| 1999 | Tamil Nadu State Film Awards | Special Prize | Padayappa | | |
| Filmfare Awards South | Best Actress - Tamil | | |
| 2009 | 57th Filmfare Awards South | Best Supporting Actress - Telugu | Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam | | |
Nandi Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Raju Maharaju | | |
| 2015 | Nandi Awards | Best Supporting Actress | | | |
| Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards | Best Supporting Actress | | |
| 1st IIFA Utsavam | Best Supporting Actress - Telugu | | |
| Best Supporting Actress - Tamil | | |
| 63rd Filmfare Awards South | Best Supporting Actress – Telugu | | |
| 2017 | 6th South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Supporting Actress - Malayalam | Aadupuliyattam | | |
| 65th Filmfare Awards South | Best Supporting Actress - Telugu | | | |
| Behindwoods Gold Medal | Best Supporting Actress | | |
| 2018 | 7th South Indian International Movie Awards | Best Actress - Telugu | | |
| 2019 | Zee Cine Awards Tamil | Best Supporting Actor - Female | Super Deluxe | | |
| Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards | | |
| 8th South Indian International Movie Awards | Thaanaa Serndha Koottam | | |
| 2024 | 69th Filmfare Awards South | Best Supporting Actress – Telugu | Ranga Maarthaanda | | |
External links
